Let's Build: Better Boats!

Kate, www.letsbuildengineering.org

Rashi's After School program provides enriching programming for students beyond school hours.

Participants in the Let's Build! engineering elective in our After School program have been learning about windmills and the many uses of an aerodynamically designed surface. Recently, they wondered if their windmill designs might help them build a better boat. Together, students discussed which designs from a previous class best caught the air and thought about how these ideas might apply to sails.

The students got to work, building solid boats and then building sails to power them! As they tested their sails and observed their results, they immediately came up with new ideas. These prompted revisions and sometimes, they went back to the drawing board for a fresh start!